1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sliding structure for an electronic device, and more particularly, to a low friction and stable sliding structure for an electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
As sliding structures have the advantages of simple handling and attractive design, they are largely used in portable electronic devices such as cellular phones, cameras, portable multimedia players (PMP), electronic dictionaries, electronic schedulers, navigations, small-sized notebook computers or the like. FIG. 1A is a schematic perspective view illustrating a conventional cellular phone 10, and FIG. 1B is a schematic side view illustrating the conventional cellular phone 10 of FIG. 1A and a sliding structure 40 thereof.
Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, the conventional cellular phone 10 having the sliding structure 40 further includes a receiver portion 20 including a displaying portion 2 and a transmitter portion 30 including an operation-key portion 3 such as number key buttons or the like. The conventional cellular phone 10 is used by pushing up the receiver portion 20 for calling or transmitting/receiving of messages, and includes the sliding structure 40 used for a sliding operation. A semi-automatic sliding operation is preferably used. In a manual sliding operation, a user must go through the inconvenience of pushing the sliding structure 40 and handling the cellular phone 10 so as to open and close the sliding structure 40. In the conventional cellular phone 10, since the size of the transmitter portion 30 including a number key portion formed thereon, which is generally exposed by sliding, is small, an area which is required for operation-keys for performing various functions in addition to the number key is small. Thus, an additional button is formed on the receiver portion 20 on which a display portion is formed, and a button for performing functions, or the like is formed on a side surface portion of the cellular phone 10. Accordingly, a user must undergo the inconvenience of operating operation-keys that are spaced apart from one another to perform different functions. In addition, the arrangement uses a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB), which connects the operation key to an additional electronic device for operating the operation keys.
The conventional sliding structure 40 will now be described. Referring to FIG. 1B, the conventional sliding structure 40 is disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2005-0037649 and includes a first sliding member 41 and a second sliding member 42 that slides along the first sliding member 41. The first sliding member 41 includes a first magnet 43 and the second sliding member 42 includes a pair of second magnets 44a and 44b, and thus a sliding operation is assisted by a magnetic force.
In the conventional sliding structure 40, friction between the first sliding member 41 and the second sliding member 42 impedes the sliding operation. In particular, the friction between the first sliding member 41 and the second sliding member 42 increases during a sliding operation when an attractive force act between the first magnet 43 and the pair of second magnets 44a and 44b. Accordingly, a user needs to push the sliding structure 40 harder in order to operate the conventional cellular phone 10.
FIG. 1C is a cross-sectional view illustrating another conventional sliding structure 50. Referring to FIG. 1C, the sliding structure 50, disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2005-0089584, includes a first sliding member 51 and a second sliding member 52 sliding along the first sliding member 51.
The first sliding member 51 includes a first magnet 53 having a horseshoe shape, and the second sliding member 52 includes a second magnet 54 also having a horseshoe shape. The first magnet 53 and the second magnet 54 are alternately arranged to facilitate a sliding operation.
In the sliding structure 50, repulsive forces act between the N pole of the first magnet 53 and the N pole of the second magnet 54, and between the S pole of the first magnet 53 and the S pole of the second magnet 54 when a sliding operation is being performed. Simultaneously, an attractive force also acts between the S pole of the first magnet 53 and the N pole of the second magnet 54. Accordingly, a sliding operation does not proceed smoothly since a user will need to push the sliding structure 50 harder due to the attractive force between the first magnet 53 and the second magnet 54.
In addition, in the sliding structure 50, since the first magnet 53 and the second magnet 54, which have horseshoe shapes, are alternately arranged, a large space for such an arrangement is required, and thus the thickness of the sliding structure 50 is increased. Also, in curved parts where parts of the first magnetic member 53 and the second magnetic member 54 do not overlap, since an attractive force, instead of a repulsive force, acts between the parts of the first magnetic member 53 and the second magnetic member 54, the sliding operation cannot be easily performed, and the sliding stroke is reduced.